I have been in New Zealand for the past two weeks. My friend J'rae and I have been biking down the North Island from Auckland through numerous mountains and valleys and are nearly in Wellington where we will be working on a farm for a couple weeks before heading to bike around the South Island. We have met lots of amazing people, explored some caves, hiked some volcanoes, bummed in McDonalds for their free Wifi, and are looking forward to many more adventures in the next 3 months.
P.S. I have been rocking out on the Mandolin which I brought on this trip. I am so glad to have a musical outlet to vent some creative energies and I am actually getting better at it. Miss the piano!!
And this week ends the film scoring course with Beklee. What a great experience it has been. Now I must cross my fingers and hope that the College accepts me and gives me lots and lots of scholarship! Yay for big dreams and no money!
This week's assignment was to compile the music we composed during the course into a 3 minute demo track...so here it is!
Here we go! The last scoring assignments of the course.
Served up today we have a delightful mix of Comedy and Fantasy
Week 10: We scored a comedic scene from the movie Raising Helen.
Week 11: Magic and Fantasy! I was very much looking forwards to this one. Unfortunately the scene wasn't very magical or exciting but it was still fun to score. The scene was from Lady in the Water.
Last night I collaborated with the wonderful poet, Elizabeth Garber, improvising on the
piano as she read her poetry. We organized the event as a fundraiser for Mary Weaver's children's theater. I have acted at the Playhouse for many years and was happy to have a chance to support her.
The collaborative experience was quite successful. I have never played so well, the poetry
inspired melodies streaming from my fingertips like rain in a
summer downpour. I was aware of every note, my brain somehow working
faster than usual, allowing me to place each finger exactly where I
wanted it with the perfect touch. What causes this inspiration? It is
not something I can force. When I push record my mindset shifts and
mistakes work their way into my fingers, my mind clogs up with trying to play well. I wonder if it is something you could master through meditation; easing into the right mindset with breath and awareness.... I'm going to go try that right now.... Hm, interesting. I had some success however I shall need to try a few more times to make sure that I don't just happen to be in the right space already.
A big factor is change. If I play on a new piano or in a different setting I am usually filled with inspiration. If I stop playing for a while and then start again I feel like I have improved as a musician. When I was in Ecuador and could only infrequently touch a piano I played like I never had before.
The other big factor is, I believe a large reason for my attraction to film scoring. My best pieces come out when meshed with a story, either in my head, on the screen, or in a poem. Still one of my best musical experiences was at the teen meditation retreat; improvising on my keyboard as a young film director enthusiastically narrated a cinematic tale while a crowd of onlookers added in details and cheered us on.
